In his series of Biblical scenes in the Vatican Logge, what narrative methods did Raphael employ and how does his approach differ from that of his contemporaries?

The extent of Raphael’s intricate design of the Logge becomes clear when it is revealed that the layout of the vaults have been devised so that the seventh and central bay allows onlookers to see the room as a cohesive whole. The seventh bay acts as a middle point for the viewer’s eye to rest on and admire the room in its entirety. The paintings in bay one to six and eight to thirteen extend in opposite directions from the seventh bay, which narrates the episode of when Joseph reveals the contents of his dream to his brothers.

This scene is a perfect example of the advanced narrative methods used within each individual painting. The compositional techniques are especially Albertian. According to Alberti there would be a few too many figures present but there is a great variety of pose, gesture, expression, colour and movement. All the figures are effectively geared towards the central event. Their arms and legs create diagonals pointing towards Joseph. Joseph’s brothers’ robust physiques thickly grouped together in a semicircular composition around the small figure of Joseph emphasise the threat of their rage. They separate themselves from Joseph, who stands central and points towards his brothers, further distancing him from them. It is interesting to note that Raphael has not painted Joseph wearing his magnificent coat. However, he has still managed to portray Joseph as the ‘better’ son: He appears trimmer and more sophisticated, dressed in a gold-green robe over both shoulders. His brothers wear tatty tunics, clumsily tied over one shoulder. Joseph’s hair is worn long, whereas his brothers have curly and windswept hair. These factors are certainly relevant considering the fact that much of Raphael’s Bible scenes are symbolic. For example, in the Bible story it is made clear that only ten brothers would have been present when Joseph revealed his dreams: “And Joseph’s ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt.”. Raphael opts for a symbolic representation of this story rather than a strictly scholarly approach. It is for this reason that one must pay close attention to detail in many of the Logge scenes.

Further promoting Albertian notions, Oberhuber states that, ‘…gesture and pose are the essential means of communication.’ This interest and attention to postural stance can be seen in the majority of the Logge scenes and very much so in the painting of the ‘Deluge’ included in the bay dedicated to Noah. This painting is made up of many sweeping, liquid, bodily movements, linked together by flowing hair and windswept materials. The variety of different movements is also an important Albertian motif and can be seen perfectly in the ‘Deluge’ scene. Many art historians are of the view that this variety in a painting is really what captures the viewer’s imagination.

Although the way in which Raphael connects and interlinks his scenes and figures is very different to his contemporaries, a major difference between himself and rival Michelangelo is the actual rendering of the figures. Viewing their two ‘Creation of the Sun and Moon’ paintings (with the knowledge that Raphael had seen Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel paintings before he completed his), allows some interesting insight. Initially one might believe the two pictures are uncannily similar but after some analysis the differences become clear. The most striking similarity one might notice initially is the fact that both artists chose to cloak the God figure in the same regal purple colour. Nevertheless, this is the extent of their similarities. Michelangelo’s scene makes use of continuous narrative, almost as if to emphasise the magnitude of what God is doing, so much so that two depictions of him must be included in the one frame. Through the figure’s pose he has created the effect of a swirling motion; the second God symbolises a few seconds later in time. Where Michelangelo’s painting is full of power and energy, Raphael’s has an aura of superiority and refinement. Raphael’s God seems to create the two great luminaries with ease and effortlessness. The positioning of his hands and feet highlight this ease of movement in the way that they seem to float in mid-air above the earth. There are no facial or postural signs of strain involved whatsoever. This is so in all four of the Logge creation scenes. The four Gods shown in each scene are linked together by their extended arms which lead the way into the neighbouring scene. Viewing them as a whole, the way they seem to move together in sequence, is almost like a dance.  Michelangelo has put much more effort into creating a figure of strength in God. His furrowed brow and dramatised physical pose show his intentions and create an entirely different atmosphere to that of Raphael’s frescos. Vasari noted that ‘Raphael, indeed, was endowed by nature with the ability to paint with wonderfully sweet and gracious expressions.’ His figures are ‘…gesticulating with their hands, making various movements with their bodies, inclining their ears to listen, knitting their brows and expressing astonishment in many different ways, all of which are truly varied and appropriate.’ These subtle psychological traits that Raphael recognises and includes in his characters are the small details which allow his figures to come alive in the paintings. It appears as though Raphael has much empathy for the events taking place and has imagined what the people would have felt at the time. He has then envisaged and reproduced their corresponding reactions in his work. Each figure reacts in his or her own way and consequently the image has a great sense of realism.

On the other hand, Michelangelo’s figures exist magnificently as single entities. They are pillars of perfection standing alone, whereas Raphael has achieved his success through working the figures together in intricate groups. According to Vasari, Bramante (who was a friend of Raphael’s) had the keys to the Sistine Chapel and took Raphael on a private visit to see Michelangelo’s work and study his technique. What Raphael saw of Michelangelo’s work from the Sistine Chapel gave him the courage to give his own work an extra sense of majesty and grandeur. Though we know that after this visit Raphael briefly tried to imitate Michelangelo’s style, he soon acknowledged the fact that he could not surpass Michelangelo and should pursue his own narrative methods to succeed.

I will finally discuss an example of one of these methods which was first noted by Oskar Fischel. In Fischel’s text on the artist he states: ‘In the pictures, landscape is brought into prominence for the sake of atmosphere.’ The difficulty in analysing a comment such as the latter lies in the fact that much of what we see in the Logge may not have been painted by Raphael himself. During the time that Raphael was working on the Logge, he also had many other commissions to complete which does raise the question of how much he really did contribute to the actual painting. Vasari has said that he senses Raphael did all the preparatory drawings for the biblical scenes. Once these were completed he set others to work on it, though he kept a close eye on them throughout. Fischel justifies his theory when he continues, ‘...but where the landscape is a vehicle of narrative [...] and breathes a mythical virginity in which the few figures set against a distant horizon have their being - [...] -it must be Raphael, and only Raphael himself, who struck a new note.’ The Finding Moses scene from the eighth bay of the Logge is a perfect example of the atmospheric quality that Raphael’s landscapes can bring to a painting. Although the focus is on the baby being saved from the river, the majestic landscape inadvertently creates a dramatic and legendary moment in time through use of strong perspective and a classic, uncontaminated rural setting. These factors have a great influence on the overall effect of the picture though in most cases the effect is subconscious since the eye need not shift from the figures that make up the narrative. The viewer is simply aware that there is a certain mythical aura surrounding the picture.

It is clear that the atmospheric effect of the bays created by a combination of the intricate figural compositions and the organisation of the whole was an aspect of the narrative which was of prime importance to Raphael. Fischel also talks extensively on the architecture and design of the bays and how they are placed in relation to the light and the landscape outside. The paintings are intersected by planes of blue which look like the sky from below, which also contributes to the ambient feel of the vaults.

In the light of the above evidence, I do not feel that it is appropriate to say that one method exceeds the other in terms of narrative methods within the paintings and narrative methods in the Logge as a whole. They are two entirely separate features of the Logge and it would be an unjust comparison. However, in my opinion I feel that Raphael has prevailed over his contemporaries, including Michelangelo, when it comes to the portrayal of his characters’ reactions. Of all his great artistic qualities, I think it is his sympathetic insight into these biblical scenes which ultimately makes the Logge scenes more exceptional than those of his contemporaries.

Bibliography

R. Cocke, The Drawings of Raphael, The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited, London, (1969)

B.F. Davidson, Raphael’s Bible: A study of the Vatican Logge, Pennsylvania State University Press, (1985)

O. Fischel, Raphael (Volume 1), Kegan Paul, London (1948)

Giorgio Vasari The Lives of the Artists: Volume 1 Penguin Classics (1965)

K. Oberhuber, Raphael: The Paintings Prestel (1999)

Michaelangelo and Raphael in the Vatican (Special Edition for the Museums and Papal Galleries) (1993)

Old Testament Bible

 

         

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